Archive for May 2013

Peter and I have just published (on Amazon Kindle) two new novellas in the horror genre: BLOOD RANCH and LOOM: ISLAND OF TERROR. We’re both horror fans, and think that aficionados will find plenty to shudder at in both books. But as ever, there’s a dark seam of humour running through the stories, and they’re both anchored firmly in the here and now, one set in the borderlands of the US south-west, the other on a remote Orkney island. We’re planning more horror stories in due course.

BLOOD RANCH started life as a screenplay, described by scriptshop.co.uk as “a very successful attempt to do something different. It has humour, horror and action in equal measure. Good characters, classy set pieces… a true page turner.” Set in the present day, in the Tex-Mex borderlands, it chronicles the horrific events that ensue when the small town of Varno Springs finds it self playing host to the charismatic Mr. Hillyer and his mesmeric vampire master. After they take over the local ranch, the only barrier stopping them establishing a hellish realm of the undead is a ragtag team comprising combat veteran and fulltime drunk Danny Ellam; enigmatic Native American Dark Moon Rising; and rancher’s daughter Alicia Fenimore. Funny when it’s supposed to be funny, horrific when it’s supposed to be horrific, BLOOD RANCH also touches on many of the perspectives that we’ve explored in our other books.

LOOM: ISLAND OF TERROR
Nick and Claire Gower’s marriage is under stress as their teenage son Jack gets into more and more trouble – so they decide to swap their comfortable life in North London for a new start in Loom, a remote Orkney island. Taking over the island’s general store, they think they’ve got away from it all – but it quickly becomes apparent that Loom is never going to offer the simple, neighbourly life they imagined – half the islanders are out of it on crystal meth, the other half on alcohol. Unanswered questions quickly pile up: what is sinister bio-tech company Scalar Laboratories up to? Why did a mysterious explosion at the Scalar plant go unreported? What is the secret of beautiful local girl Shelley? And what about rumours that the island is infested by unstoppable cannibalistic zombies? LOOM is a fable for our times – a fast-paced, gripping read that is truly horrific, sometimes hilarious and occasionally touching.